


woven in the blossoms

by meteorfest



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Best Friends, Flower Crowns, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:52:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorfest/pseuds/meteorfest
Summary: Skids teaches Nautica how to make a flower crown.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My Skids bot on twitter (skids_txt) has been posting some Sad Tweets and my friend has been suffering for it, so I wrote this fluff fic with our favorite nerds to make up for the Sads. Hope this makes up for those tweets, Linda!
> 
> I recommend listening to the [Memoria! arrangement of "Dearly Beloved" by Yoko Shimomura](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK34OebV2EU) while reading, as it was on repeat while I was writing this! All flower meanings were taken from various sites found via google.

“I don’t think I’m any good at this.” Nautica set aside the mangled flower she’d been trying to attach to the circlet she was weaving. That was the fifth flower she’d ruined since Skids had handed the beginning of the circlet to her. “I’m far too clumsy for weaving.”

“Nonsense,” Skids told her. “You can take apart a quantum engine, catalog all the parts in your head, and put it back together in 16.2 kliks, you can weave a flower crown. Here, let me see.”

He leaned over and reached for one of the flowers Nautica had set out in front of her. A white acacia, he was certain. They’d stopped at a shop on the planet they were visiting while the Lost Light’s engines recharged, finding flowers of all colors, shapes, and origins. He’d offered to make Nautica a flower crown and she’d lit up, asking him to teach her to make one for him in return. After going through the entire shop and spending a fair few shanix on several bouquets worth of flowers, they’d found a bar, gotten a booth, and ordered some drinks to sip at while Skids taught Nautica the tricks of making a blossoming crown.

Taking the circlet that he’d started for her, Skids studied the blossoms that Nautica had managed to get wrapped into the wiring. “Here’s the problem. You’ve cut the stems too short. There’s not enough of the stem for the wire to hold onto.”

He took the blossoms back out, carefully unwrapping the wire from the stems. He took the acacia he’d picked up before and cut the stem at the proper length before wrapping it firmly, but without damaging the stem. Handing the circlet back, he pointed to the newly wrapped stem. “Cut the rest of the stems the same length. It’ll be easier once you get into the rhythm of it.”

Nautica took the circlet into her hands and studied Skids’ handiwork. “Where did you learn how to make these, anyways?” she asked, setting the circlet down to pick up her drink. She took a slow drink, letting herself indulge in the taste, before going back to work. “You’re full of surprises, but this takes the energon-cake.”

“Mhm.” Skids worked diligently on the crown he was making for Nautica, deft fingers carefully wrapping wire around stems of soft purple clematis and stark white pear blossoms. He’d chosen these to accent the rose acacia he’d picked as the main blossoms, not just for the colors that went with Nautica’s bright paint, but also for the meanings behind them – lasting friendship, intellectual beauty, and affection; things that he saw in Nautica, found in his growing friendship with her, and felt for her. “I picked it up.”

“You pick up a lot of things, but that doesn’t answer the question.”

Skids gave a shrug, picking up a stem of clematis and wrapping it into the crown. “I was planet-side on an organic planet and ran into a child who decided she wasn’t scared of me,” he explained. He picked up his drink, drained the last few sips, and pushed the glass aside so he could focus on weaving. “She insisted I have a crown and since I watched her make it…”

“You learned how to make one by observation,” Nautica finished for him. She gave a soft hum, setting her circlet down again to let her chin rest in the palm of her hand. “Sometimes I envy that gift of yours.”

“I appreciate it when it’s actually a gift,” Skids told her. “Other times, it’s a curse.”

“Fair enough, but it would make weaving this crown much easier.” Nautica gingerly picked her circlet up with two fingers before letting it drop again. She took another few sips of her drink before reaching for a cluster of forget-me-nots to work them into the circlet. “Quantum engines are easier than this.”

“You wanted to learn,” Skids pointed out. He signaled for another drink, setting his near-finished crown aside for the moment to move so he could sit next to Nautica on the other side of the booth. He leaned against her shoulder, reaching over to guide her hands as she went back to work. “Gentle. Don’t wrap too tightly and don’t place them too close together. Otherwise, you’ll have a choked-looking crown.”

With Skids guiding her, Nautica started to pick up the method to the art. She was glad for his help and patience when it came to teaching her, glad they got to spend some time together, getting to do things that best friends got to do. Though she had Firestar on Caminus, the two of them had never actually been as close as Nautica was with Skids and the other friends she had made on the Lost Light. They’d never done anything like this together, Firestar too caught up in her own fire to teach Nautica something as small as how to make a flower crown.

Skids encouraged her as she went along, letting her take it on her own when they both agreed that she had the hang of it. They returned to their drinks between weaves, spoke of their hopes for the next planet the ship stopped at, discussed the differences between the old Cybertronian literature that Skids loved and the Camien literature that Nautica loved, promising to do a swap next time they got a chance. Skids finished the crown he was working on and set it aside while Nautica continued to work on hers, then reached to cut more of the stems so she wouldn’t have to pause as much.

After some time and another drink, Nautica finished the last weave and lifted the completed crown over her head. “Hurrah! Finished!”

Skids applauded, grinning tipsily as he clapped. “Well done!” he congratulated her. “See, I was right, you _can_ weave a flower crown!”

Nautica laughed, bringing the crown down to cover her face to hide the flush of embarrassment that crossed her face. “I’ve never been any good with the arts. This is the first time I’ve actually made something like this!”

“You didn’t have me for a teacher before.” Skids let his grin ease into a softer smile and reached to pick up the crown he’d made for Nautica. He leaned across the table and placed the crown on her helm. The colors of the blossoms, though he’d picked them to go with her paint, easily stood out against the metal of her helm and complemented her face nicely. “But I believe you’re also better than you think you are.”

“Thank you.” Nautica smiled back at him, reaching up with one hand to adjust the crown on her head slightly before bringing the crown she’d made him on his helm. Her crown stood out a little more, not quite as perfectly made, with the stark white and light blue blossoms popping out against the darker blue of Skids’ helm. “I’m glad you’re my friend, Skids. You’ve encouraged me so much and I’ve learned a lot with you. I hope you have the same fond memories of me.”

“Is that why you used periwinkles in the crown for me?”

“So you speak flower now, too?” Nautica teased, her smile widening. She leaned forward, hands cupping her face. “Super learners. What don’t you know?”

“Everything I have yet to learn,” Skids replied, sticking his tongue out playfully.

Nautica laughed. She picked up one of the remaining stems of the flowers they’d used to make their crowns and twirled it between her fingers. “Fair enough.” She hummed thoughtfully for a moment as she twirled the stem, then let her optics brighten with a thought. “Hey, how much time do we have before we need to head back to the ship? I’ve got an idea.”

* * * * *

Skids held a finger to his lips as they approached the hab-suite, while Nautica held her hands behind her back and bit her lip to keep from giggling. They’d ended up ordering another round of drinks after returning from a second trip to the flower shop. Still feeling a bit tipsy from the indulgence and giddy about their little surprised, the two of them had hurried back to the Lost Light once they were finished and made their way to the hab-suites, though Ultra Magnus had chided them about drinking and driving on their way onto the ship.

The two of them approached the door they wanted and Skids made to knock, but before his knuckles could even touch the surface, the door slid open. Nightbeat stood on the other side, brow arching slightly at the two of them.

“No need to guess how much you two have been drinking,” he told them. He hadn’t bothered to leave the ship, caught up in one of his projects. The planet didn’t have anything to offer him, so he hadn’t seen the point in leaving when he still had a mystery to solve. “You, ah, had fun, I take it?”

“Mhmm!” Nautica replied cheerfully. “We brought you something!”

Nightbeat glanced to the crown on Nautica’s head – removed before transforming to her alt-mode and replaced once she’d gotten back to the ship. “I suppose I’m not allowed to guess.”

“Oh, you can guess,” Skids told him, leaning against the wall next to the door. “But we’re keeping it if you do.”

“Nonsense,” Nautica cut in. She brought her arms from behind her back and revealed a crown of white lotus, yellow roses, and a blue variant of the clematis Skids had woven into the crown she wore. She promptly placed it on Nightbeat’s head, smiling widely at him. “We made this for you! As a token of our friendship!”

“You’ll note the message in them,” Skids added, lifting his hand to gesture to the crown.

“Let me see.” Nightbeat reached up to take the crown off for inspection. “Yellow roses for friendship. Lotus for mystery. And the other…”

“Clematis,” Nautica grinned. She tapped the side of her helm. “For your smarts.”

“Nice.” Nightbeat gave a slight smile and replaced the crown on his head before posing for them, hip cocked and hand checked under his chin. “How’s it look?”

“Fit for royalty!” Nautica laughed, stepping forward to hug Nightbeat lightly. “Next time, you’re coming planet-side with us. We need to do more together!”

To his credit, Nightbeat actually hugged her back. Maybe it was Nautica’s contagious happiness, maybe it was the gift of the flower crown, but for Nightbeat, who was usually rather restrained when it came to physical affection, to hug back was pleasantly surprising. Skids gave a smile from his spot at the wall, watching his two friends for a moment before Nautica – without fully letting go of Nightbeat – reached over and pulled him over to join the hug. He wound up with one arm around Nautica and the other looped over Nightbeat’s shoulders.

“The three of us next time,” Nautica told her two friends, still holding onto them. Their heads were close together, the blossoms of their crowns mingling together. She gave a content sigh, glad to be with her friends. “We’ll go together.”


End file.
